New NAND chips means a new SSD line

OCZ may have learned a lesson from its competitors that swapping NAND flash memory in an existing solid state drive line tends to irritate customers. Rather than go that route with its Vertex 460 line and risk a public outcry, OCZ this week announced its new Vertex 460A SSD family using newer A19 Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips provided by its parent company, Toshiba.

AMD might not be finished with Hawaii

Ever since AMD launched its Hawaii GPU architecture, there have been rumblings that a faster version exists, perhaps locked away in the Sunnyvale chip designer's underground vault for a rainy day. If that's the case, be on the lookout for storm clouds -- word on the web is that AMD will launch a faster Hawaii part next year before it comes out with Fiji. How exactly it will be faster isn't yet known.

Meet the world's fastest accelerator

If there are any kids within earshot, send them off to play or cover their ears before reading any further, we wouldn't want their little ears being exposed to excited obscenities that may follow. As in, "Holy sh*t, how much RAM!?" Try 24GB of GDDR5 memory, which is how much Nvidia decided to use on its Tesla K80 dual-GPU accelerator, the new flagship offering in the Tesla family.

Own the case without the guts

Boutique system builder Origin PC is celebrating its official 5-year anniversary since launching its online store, during which time it's released 20 products and won over 25 awards and accolades. More recently, Origin PC trotted out new cases for its Millennium mid-tower and Genesis full-tower PCs, and for a limited time, you can purchase either chassis by itself. It's the first time Origin PC has offered up cases for sale.

E Fun Nextbook will come with a 1 year Office 365 Personal subscription

Another ultra-cheap Windows 8.1 tablet is getting ready to join Microsoft’s ongoing assault on Chromebooks and low-end Android tablets. The 8-inch Nextbook from E Fun will be available at Walmart stores on Black Friday 2014 for as low as $99.99, Microsoft announced in a blog post Thursday.

Winning the shipment war, but losing profit

Asus and Gigabyte have been engaged in a cutthroat shipment war with one another, each trying to ship more motherboards than the other. As we approach the end of the year, it looks like Asus will edge ahead of Gigabyte and ship around 2 million more motherboards in 2014, however that victory will come at the expense of a declining profit, which is not something that Gigabyte will have to contend with.

BlackBerry goes back to its roots

BlackBerry, or the company formerly known as Research In Motion (RIM), is trying to become the comeback kid by returning to its roots. The BlackBerry Classic, now available to pre-order for $499 (CDN) or $449 (USD), is a departure from BlackBerry's recent attempts to compete in the mobile market with more traditionally styled smartphones and is a throwback to old school BlackBerry devices, but on a modern platform.

Laptop limbo -- how low can they go?

Tis the season of the low cost laptop, and if you're looking for a portable system on the cheap, you have a growing number of choices. You won't find them in the Apple Store, of course, but you will find Windows laptops in the $200 range, including a recently reduced Asus X205TA model selling for just $170 at the Microsoft Store. In response, Chromebook models are expected to be even more affordable than they already are with Asus and Lenovo both reportedly planning to release $149 Chromebook models.

Get titles like Mount & Blade and The Witcher 2 at no cost

GOG just launched its 2014 DRM-Free Big Fall Sale with plenty of deals, plus a free game with the chance to snag more no-cost titles. For the next 48 hours, you can grab Mount & Blade for free from GOG's website, no strings attached. Other freebies include The Witcher 2: Assassin's of Kings and the movie The Gamers: Director's Cut, though you have to earn them by visiting GOG's website every day and collecting special stamps. Grab seven and you're golden.

Hybrid thermal solution offers both air and liquid cooling options

Feeling indecisive these days? Don't sweat it -- Asus Republic of Gamers (ROG) this week announced its Poseidon GTX 980 graphics card with DirectCU H20, a hybrid cooling solution capable of keeping temps at bay by air or water, dealer's choice. The benefit of having both is that you can cool the card by air today and make the leap to liquid cooling down the line, if that's your longer-term goal.